Web of Lies
by Nanashi
Summary: AU - Trowa goes missing, but there's more to his disappearance. A mystery unfolds, as Detective Heero Yuy finds himself in the middle of it.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note**: I originally wrote this for school, but never finished it. Now, I'm attempting to start writing it again, but don't expect miricles. 

**Warnings**: None yet.. I think. 

**Disclaimer**: Gundam Wing does not belong to me   
----. 

**Web of Lies **- Prologue 

"Today, the new chief representative, Quatre Winner of the Winner corporation, has been awarded with a gold medal for the funding he has generously supplied to charity." 

The scene shifted to a young man with blond hair, dressed in a formal white suite looking into the camera. He smiled politely, but his eyelids were lowered, hiding most of his azure eyes in an expression of boredom and annoyance. A voice of one of the journalists spoke up, "Mr. Winner! It is not often that a man as rich and well-traveled as yourself, simply gives away 25% of what he owns! What has brought you to this conclusion?" 

The man on the screen seemed to consider for a moment, then opened his mouth, "I have always been a great believer in--" He was cut off mid-sentence, as the mute button was pressed, filling the room with sudden silence. 

A lone figure slowly walked up to the door of her trailer. Pressing her ear against the door, she heard the soft tapping of impatient feet. 

Hesitantly, she asked, "Who's there?" 

"It's me, Triton," a deep voice sounded from the outside. The figure heaved a sigh of relief, and tugged a brown strand of hair behind her ear. 

"Just a second," she called back, and started fiddling with the security locks. Finally, a 'click' sounded, and the door swung open. 

"G'mornin'," the man outside grinned. "I've a letter for you. It came all the way from London." He handed her a beige envelope with her neatly printed address at the front. 

"London?" the woman repeated, and turned her attention to the letter. Murmuring a small 'thank you', she waved Triton away again, and returned to her trailer. 

Fingering the beige envelope nervously, she wondered if this was it. A letter from her brother, Trowa. She hadn't seen her sibling since their parents had died a year ago, and she had felt a huge gap in her life, ever since. 

Taking a deep breath, she quickly ripped the letter open, and revealed a neatly folded piece of paper. Sitting down at her desk, she opened it, and let her eyes glide from one side to the other, as she silently read it. Her expression quickly changed into a mixture of fear, shock, then horror. 

Letting her hand holding the letter drop to her side, she weakly let go of the piece of paper. Warm crystal pearls of sorrow and despair escaped from her closed eyes, and rolled down her cheeks, staining her tanned skin with spilled emotions. 

"Trowa..." the name softly escaped her lips, "Oh, Trowa." 

Suddenly, she felt weak; helpless. In a state of shock, she laid her head on the hard surface of her desk. Sobbing, and calling her brother's name over and over again, she drifted off into a dreamless state of unconsciousness. 

On the floor, the letter lay still and innocent. The black, emotionlessly printed words conveying the worst possible news. 

"We are sorry to inform you that your brother, Trowa Barton, is dead." 

----- 


	2. Chapter One

**Warnings**: None yet.. I think. 

**Disclaimer**: Gundam Wing does not belong to me.   
---- 

**Chapter One**

"Mr. Yuy," a voice crackled through the com, "There's a lady out here who'd like to speak to you." 

"Send her in." 

The door opened, and a woman with neatly curled, brown hair and blue eyes entered. She had a small handbag tightly clutched in her fist, and a nervous shimmer in her eyes. Her lips slightly curved into a polite smile, she spoke, "Detective Yuy?" 

The man in front of her grunted, cobalt eyes glinting at her through a mop of unruly brown hair. He gestured for her to take a seat. She obeyed, and took a small breath before she continued, "I suppose I should begin. My name is Catherine Bloom." A pause. "A-a year ago, my half brother Trowa Barton left to study in London. I have never heard from his since - no calls, letters - nothing. Then, I got this through the mail a couple of days ago." She took a small, and slightly battered beige envelope out of her handbag, and handed it to the detective. Patiently waiting, she watched him open it, and take the folded piece of paper out to read. 

After a few moments of silence, Mr. Yuy looked up from the letter, "What do you want me to do about it?" 

The lady shifted on her seat uncomfortably, before replying, "It... the circumstances don't fit. Why would Trowa simply drive out all the way to Brighton, in a lone area, might I add, and then drive off a cliff which was so clearly marked with warnings? I... I can't see my brother as someone who doesn't... what I mean is that it isn't like him." 

"You _did_ say that he hasn't spoken to you since last year, though," Mr. Yuy pointed out. 

"Yes. That's true..." she confessed. "But it's fishy... The police asked me to have a look at a few photos and analyses taken from the body they have found - or what's left of it - and it's not Trowa. Of that I am sure." She paused dramatically. "All I want is to know is what's going on." 

The detective nodded, "That's understandable. Do you have any other information you'd like to convey, or is this all you have?" 

"I have the address of Trowa's apartment, but that's it," she replied, and started digging in her bag for a pen and piece of paper. "I never had time to visit - only to write. And he never picked up or returned my calls." 

"Do you have any idea why?" the man asked, and opened one of the drawers in his desk, taking out a notebook and pen. He offered the items to the lady, who quickly wrote an address onto the lined sheet. 

"No." she replied, while writing. "We hardly ever fought. We were quite close, actually. Here." She handed the notebook and pen back to its owner. "The reason why he never kept contact after out parent's death is a mystery to me... I really miss him." 

The detective suddenly stood up, and held out his hand to the woman. "I will accept your case." 

Her eyes softened, and suddenly shimmered with bright, new hope. A genuine smile crept to her lips, and she quickly shook the other's hands. 

"Thank you, Mr. Yuy. Thank you!" 

Withdrawing his hand, he walked towards the door, and opened it for her, "Please give your name and other details to my secretary, Hilde. She will tell you all about paying arrangements. Also, I will keep you updated for any progress." 

The lady nodded gratefully, and swiftly left the stuffy office. 

Mr. Yuy started massaging the back of his neck absent mindedly, and picked up the phone. Dialling the number for the police station, he spoke into the shell. 

"I want to speak to the sergeant." A muffled 'please hold' sounded, and silence quickly followed. 

Finally, a deep voice on the other end grunted, "Yes?" 

"Heero Yuy here," the detective said, picking up the letter which the lady had left behind and turned it in his fingers. "I'd like to find out about the death of a certain Trowa Barton. Address: 44 Elm Street." 

"Another case?" Heero grunted a 'yes'. "Ok, I'll see what I can do. Wait a minute." 

A small 'click' was heard on the other end. Impatiently tapping his foot, the bored man looked about his office. It was a small room, furnished with just two chairs, a desk and two filing cabinets. The only window in the room had its curtains drawn closed, blocking the sun from invading the softly lit room, and only a small strand of light was able to penetrate through. The contrast of light and shadow made everything seem dark and dusty. The air was stuffy and hot in this summer afternoon, and the air conditioner at the top corner was broken. 

A frustrated sigh escaped from the man's lips, before the person on the other end came back. 

"You still there? Good. Alright. This Barton's death actually surprised me. Not the usual car accident you get nowadays. Rather something from a book. Heh, anyway, this Barton apparently went for a drive by the coast in Brighton - and drove his car right off a cliff. We thought it was suicide, but we're still not sure. The face of the body we found was unrecognizable, but his sister came by this morning to confirm its identity She was sure it's not Barton. Apparently, he had broken his arm as a boy, but no signs of bone fractures were found. Quite a mystery, eh? But the guy upstairs thinks it's not worth our resources, so he put the case on halt for the moment. Well, that's all I can tell ya." 

Heero nodded. "Ok, thanks, Howard." 

"No prob." 

After the detective had hung up, he quickly scribbled down all of this information down on his notepad. Grabbing his coat, he exited the room. 

----- 


	3. Chapter Two

**Author's Note**: Sorry this has taken _so_ long to come out. I'm a lazy git, I know. sigh> I hope that you guys at least enjoy it, and I will try to keep the plot going. Anyways, here's the third installment (and second chapter) of "Web of Lies"! 

**Disclaimer**: Gundam Wing and all related characters do not belong to me.   
---   
**Web of Lies** - Chapter Two 

The house at 44 Elm Street was a small one, with a messy, un-kept front garden and muddy-white paint flaking off the walls. It had one floor, and the only thing visible beyond the wildly growing plants and trees was the blue front door and the roof towering above. It looked as if no one had been here for a very long time, an eerie silence hovering over this place. 

Heero Yuy raised an eyebrow at the house in front of him. He didn't know what he had expected this Barton to live in, but this was definately not it. He decided to dare his way inside, armed with a little hair pin to pick the lock, and of course, a small gun in his pocket. The door gave in easily, creating a quiet 'click', as it blew ajar. 

The inside of the house was a huge contrast to the mess outside. Cautiously stepping in, the detective let the door close behind him again. The room he was in now was sparely decorated with a couch, a coffe table and a tall lamp, all facing a TV set proudly standing on another low table. In the middle of the coffe table sat a small cookie jar, but other than that, the room was left cold and undecorated. It looked as if it belonged to one of those IKEA show rooms - everything perfectly placed. Heero shivered. 

There were two more doors, one at the end of the room, and one opposite him. He decided for the latter first, and made his way across. Again, he slowly opened the door, and found himself standing in a blank-white kitchen, bright surfaces flashing in the sunlight, which penetrated the room through big, revealing windows on the side. The kitchen, too, was too unpersonal for Heero's liking. It looked as if it had never even been used. On his left, white painted cuboards were nailed to the wall above the cooker and the kitchen benches that crept along that wall. On the opposite were the said windows and a small, blank-white kitchen table with three chairs underneath it. 

Detective Yuy checked each cupboard, which were all equipped with crockery and the sort. Nothing out of the ordinary - nothing out of place. The only sign of someone having once lived here was a lonely plate sitting in the dishwasher. Even the fridge was completely void of food or drink. 

Heero sighed impatiently. His search in this house wasn't going as successful as planned. But he still had one room left; Trowa Barton's bedroom. 

He entered the softly lit bedroom, and found the same expected perfection that send shivers down his spine. Again, it was sparsely decorated with no personal belongings in sight. A bed, a desk and a chair were the basic layout. He checked under the bed, under the covers and the pillow for any clue as to what was going on, but he found none. The desk's draws were empty, too, and there was no trash in the paper-bin next to it. 

Heero bit his lip. There _had_ to be something he had missed. A clue of somekind... a hidden message... 

He kicked at the floor miserably, only to uncover part of the floor that was hidden by a plain, blue rug. 

'Yuy, you idiot!' he thought to himself scornfully. 'Of course! The rug!' 

He quickly knelt down and rolled the blue cloth aside. Underneath was nothing too much out of the ordinary, yet Heero tried to pry open all the wooden planks, hoping for something that would help him along in this mysterious case. 

"Ahah!" he cried triumphantly, as one of the planks easily pulled open. Conceiled behind it was a little hole, hiding a stack of letters, and various other papers. He carefully placed them in his pockets, and replaced the plank and rug. After losely searching the room over without success, Heero Yuy made his way back to his office to see what was so important in these letters, that they had to be hidden so well... 

--- 

_"17th August 2001___

_Dearest Trowa,_   
_I have been thinking about writing this for a long time, since this subject is a painful one for the both of us... Our parents... Our Mum, your dad... I keep thinking... Why were they murdered? Why were they targeted? I just can't get my head around the fact that someone willingly took their lives, and I don't even know why..._   
_But you do, don't you? When you saw mum and dad lying there in the living room... you didn't look surprised or shocked at all. I know you, Trowa. You're hiding something. Please. I'm probably making horrible assumptions here, but just... return my letters or calls, will you?_   
_I'll write again, soon,___

_Catherine."___

Heero set the letter down, as he thought about what he just read. Trowa Barton's parents were _murdered_? Was this even relevant to his case? 

The detective decided that drawing conclusions too soon would not be a good idea. There were thirteen more letters in the pile that he had taken with him, all of which were written by Catherine, one each month, so the best thing to do now, would be to read them all. He picked out the next one, written in September, and swiftly read the tear-stained piece of paper. 


End file.
